A method and system for monitoring traffic in a mobile communication network are disclosed which identify geographically regions of high traffic concentration or hot spots. This is done to allow the traffic distribution within a given area to be analysed so that network operators can retrieve information concerning the places where more capacity is needed. The hot spots are located by analysing reports from the mobile stations to identify the most often occurring cell patterns. These cell patterns can be associated with geographical locations which can then be visually displayed to identify the hot spots.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of monitoring traffic in a mobile communication network to identify geographically regions of high traffic concentration, comprising: a) receiving from each of a plurality of mobile stations data representing the received signal levels at that mobile station from a plurality of neighboring cells; b) identifying for each such mobile station, a group of the neighboring cells having the highest received signal levels; c) storing the identity of the cells in each group for each such mobile station; and d) identifying the most often occurring groups thereby to identify geographically the regions of high traffic concentration.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein each group is associated with a geographical location, and wherein the geographical locations are displayed thereby to visually represent the region of high traffic concentration.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein step a) is carried out for each mobile station within an allocated serving cell, and wherein a set of neighboring cells having the highest received signal levels at that serving cell are identified whereby the group consists of the serving cell and the identified set.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein there are three cells in each set, whereby each set constitutes a triplet.
5. A method according to claim 2, when carried out for a plurality of allocated serving cells.
6. A method according to claim 2, wherein the sets are stored at the base station controller for the serving cell.
7. A method according to claim 1, wherein data representing the received signal levels for identifying the cells having the highest received signal levels is collected during a predetermined time period.
8. A method according to claim 1, wherein data defining the received signal levels of the neighboring transmission cells is transmitted from each mobile station via its traffic channel.
9. A method according to claim 1, wherein timing advance information is stored for each group of cells, the timing advance information being updated each time that group is identified.
10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the timing advance information is used as an additional indication of said geographical regions of high traffic concentration.
11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the overall level of traffic is monitored, regardless of whether or not a group of neighboring cells is identified.
12. A system for identifying geographically regions of high traffic concentration in a mobile communication network, the system comprising: means for receiving from each of a plurality of mobile stations data representing the received signal levels from a plurality of neighboring cells; means for identifying for each mobile station, a group of the neighboring cells having the highest received signal levels; and a store for storing the identity of the cells in each group, with an indication of the number of times that group has been identified whereby the most often occurring groups can be identified.
13. A system according to claim 12 when located at a base station controller controlling at least one of said cells.
14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the base station controller comprises a plurality of base station control units for controlling a plurality of transceivers and a performance control block connected to said base station control units to transmit an instruction requesting the collection of data identifying said groups, each base station control unit comprising means for determining whether or not that instruction refers to a transceiver controlled by that base station control unit, and for discarding the instruction if not.
15. A mobile communication network which operates to identify regions of high traffic concentration, the network comprising: a plurality of base stations for defining cells in the network; at least one base station controller for controlling said base stations, and including a system comprising: means for receiving from each of a plurality of mobile stations data representing the received signal levels from a plurality of neighboring cells in the network, means for identifying for each mobile station a group of the neighboring cells having the highest received signal levels, and a store for storing the identity of the cells in each group, with an indication of the number of times that group has been identified whereby the most often occurring groups can be identified; and an operating control center which defines a predetermined time period over which data defining said groups is collected, and which communicates with said at least one base station controller to instruct the collection of said data for said predetermined time period.
16. A network according to claim 15, wherein the base station controller comprises a plurality of base station control units for controlling a plurality of transceivers, and a performance control block connected to said base station control units to transmit an instruction requesting the collection of data identifying said group, each base station control unit comprising means for determining whether or not that instruction refers to a transceiver controlled by that base station control unit, and for discarding the instruction if not.
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July 30, 1999
October 23, 2001
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